Bear Fruit

But when John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:7-12 

Bear Fruit

Dear God of constant abundance
we find ourselves barely able
to blossom let alone thrive now
in these times of pandemic terrors
we struggle to get through one day.

The winds howl and the rains continue
we are whipped, weakened and exhausted
there is so little sunshine in our present
there is so little solid strengthening ground
that we can barely stand upright anymore.

Yet you are with us even in this storm
here in this unprecedented historic time
where the weak and the strong alike
have lost a sense of time and grounding
unable to make plans or grow shoots.

Come near to us and be close by
the sorrow is so deep we cannot last
You alone are the ground and gardener
plant us firmly and prop us up
so that we may flourish again for love. Amen